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SHERBROOKE – If he was premier, François Legault would ban the export of asbestos while maintaining a $58-million loan that was intended to reopen what would be Quebec’s last asbestos mine.
“Quebec is not a banana republic,” Legault told Sherbrooke reporters Monday, suggesting that while the government would honour its loan, Balcorp Ltd. would have to abandon its goal of reviving the mine. But the company could use the public money for some other purpose.
Balcorp was granted the loan, after it failed to find any private-sector backers, a month before the Sept. 4 election was called. “No bank in Quebec would associate its name with the Jeffery Mine,” Legault noted. The Coalition Avenir Québec leader said banning asbestos, a proven cause of cancers, including mesothelioma, is a matter of principle.
“We can’t let people die to save a job,” he said. “There are limits.”
But the loan, which he finds “abnormal,” was duly negotiated by the Charest government and Balcorp would have to find a new investment project, saying the town of Asbestos, where the mine is located, needs new industries to ween it off the fibrous mineral.
“Obviously, they (Balcorp) cannot use the loan for what they wanted to because now it would be forbidden,” Legault said.
Earlier in Granby, where he presented his party’s plans for greater reliance on home care for seniors, the CAQ leader was questioned about the prospects of a resumption of Quebec’s tuition conflict.
Legault said with some students voting to resume their “strike,” neither Liberal Premier Jean Charest nor Parti Québécois chief Pauline Marois has the credibility to settle the conflict.
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